What's with the idea that contemporary hip hop and pop lack melody?

So if Coolio's Gangster's Paradise doesn't have melody on the verses (like a poster claimed earlier), does that mean that REM's End of the World as We Know It doesn't either?

 

I think the important lesson to be derived from threads such as this one is that, while there are a lot of pretty great hip-hop songs, the are no good songs by the Eagles.

 

i hope this doesn't sound harsh but, why do people keep on bringing up gangsta's paradise, a song that is 24 years old , when discussing contemporary hip hop? if the only reference you all have to hip hop is that old why do you think you have anything relevant to say about contemporary hip hop? this is the inherent problem with this discussion. none of you have any depth of knowledge in this.

 

Jeez, don't be bringing up those two songs. You might re-ignite the legendary Stevie Wonder - Michael Stipe rap beef...

D.D.

 

I am 24 years old and I follow current hip hop, I mentioned that song because someone used it as an example.

I used a 2018 song in my original post.

 

Rhythm is as an element of music along with Melody and Harmony. Unless you think the drum solo in Moby Dick isn’t music, rhythmic music is a valid expression

 

What is your definition of melody?

I mean I know right out of the gate you saying "so-called song" shows bias. However, and I am not even saying this as a fan of that song but more as a person who obsessed over every facet of music composition getting my degree - objectively speaking there is a melody there as there is in tons of hip-hop music, if we go by the textbook definition of melody all music scholars have agreed upon

It may not be your type of melody, or presentation, but that doesn't mean a melody does not exist

 

Melodic hip hop has gotten more common if anything, with the rise of rapper/singers

 

Very NSFW, but this is a somewhat recent hip hop song and it is definitely melodic in my opinion.

 

Another reggaeton song, which has obvious melody (in my opinion at least)

 

I beg to differ and it may be a poor support for your premise. That to me sounds like the current pop vibe you'd hear on the radio or on one of those chart compilations.

Ask what rap is and most will cite Nas or Eminem or Dre... the rapping takes precendence over what tune there may be - overall though I back your claim, rap songs can have decent melodies too and the beauty is really in the ears of the beholder; what YOU like is really all that matters.



Great melody, huh?

 

Seems lots of you guys have become your parents. How sad.

It's also a bit amusing how many of you find the content of risque rap songs so objectionable. And you guys say my generation is too politically correct!

 

That's because hip hop has influenced pop music in the US, UK, and Latin America to the extent that the lines are blurred. But that is still a full blown rap song and reached the top 4 in both the mainstream and hip hop chart.

 

While many of their heroes were full blown heroin addicts

 

Nope. But carry on.

 

There's literally a guy named "Chance the Rapper" who spends as much time singing as he does rapping.

 

Instrumental purely rhythmic music has a ton of cultural relevance historically, the interweaving of counter rhythms and polyrhythmic tendencies to both literally and figuratively have a conversation, the cultural celebration and dance that can occur with it, etc. African drumming for example. I would say rhythmic-centric music is just as important as any other type of music, and is just as musical

I once saw a concert that was purely drumming in the style of traditional Sengal percussion music, and it was wonderfully moving

 

For most of human history and for most non-Western cultures' musical traditions, the answer is definitely "yes." Big ups for what might be the greatest example of postmodern thinking ever posted on SH.tv, though.

 

They are rapping through literally the entire song, but carry on

 

As they should - Helter Skelter has no melody it is just some crazy guy yelling while the drummer plays so gosh darn loud that he subjects himself to blisters on his fingers

I mean am I surprised that some people on a forum that skews towards middle-aged and older folks who lean closer to The Moody Blues than Kendrick Lamar or even Eazy-E, do not get hip-hop? Not particularly, however I am surprised at how many in this thread genuinely can listen to something that objectively has different notes with rhythm and do not consider it to be a melody

 

Right. If these songs have no melody, why am I able to hum them (which I do all the time)?

 

Man there are a lot of old jazz and Sinatra fans waiting in heaven to greet you classic rock and roll guys with a big told you so when you get there. I'm sure you remember a lot of them telling you how worthless rock and roll was back in the day. Funny how things change?
Also the hypocrisy of talking about the vulgar lyrics of hip hop while ignoring the endless rock songs about having sex with underage girls.
And for the record The Flaming Lips are leagues above Yes and The Moody Blues for a lot of us. That is not an open and shut case. Nothing against those two bands, they're great but I've heard all their music and I'll take the Lips.
Enjoy the music you enjoy but forming a hard and fast opinion on the quality of an entire genre of music when your knowledge of it is next to nothing is pretty pointless. You've heard a few random popular hip hop songs on the radio and now can dismiss the whole lot of it? Can I do the same of Van Morrison by hearing just Brown Eyed Girl? Does that song define who he is as an artist? Is country all Achy Breaky Heart or can it also be Patsy Cline and Dwight Yoakum? My parents only played Glenn Miller when I was growing up. I'm good stopping there, right? That pretty much sums up jazz?
These forums should be about the wonders of all music and the amazing stuff you can discover here but every time hip hop is brought up some members feel it is paramount to come in and trash all of it. Why?

 

I think they are bitter about hip hop because it is much different from rock and has displaced it as a force in popular music

 

I dunno. I'm not familiar with the music of Motley Crue.

 

I have listened to the track, and there's no denying there's a melody there. It's repetitive but it's still a melody.